Initial rider training in Europe does not meet riders’ needs. Improving
pre-licence training will reduce the number of riders killed and injured.
The representative organisations of the motorcycling community: FEMA the European
road riding motorcyclists’ federation, FIM the World motorcycle sport federation
and ACEM, the European motorcycle manufacturers’ association, agree that initial
rider training in Europe does not meet riders’ needs.
They believe that improved pre-licence training will reduce the number of riders
killed and injured
The provision of initial rider training in Europe, that is the training that is needed to obtain the necessary knowledge and skills to safely ride a scooter or a motorcycle and gain an A category licence, varies widely within the 25 Member States of the European Union.
Ranging from the virtually non-existent to the extensive and very expensive, the existing national arrangements often fail the trainee rider through concentrating on machine control skills and overlooking crucial areas such as rider attitude and behaviour and hazard awareness and avoidance.
These were among the conclusions of a study undertaken in 1997 (Initial Rider Training in Europe-the Views and the Needs of the Riders) by the then Federation of European Motorcyclists, now FEMA, which was supported by ACEM and FIM. Whilst some of the problems it identified may have improved in some of the then 15 Member States, it is generally believed that the expansion of the European Union has resulted in an overall worsening and a growing belief that the development of a European approach to initial rider training could make a considerable contribution to reducing accidents amongst this group of vulnerable road users.
This view was shared by the European Commission, Vägverket, the Swedish road traffic authority and IVV, the international instructors' organisation, who agreed to support a project to develop a European approach to initial rider training and participate in its work.
With the support of
